The Official Venmo Blog

January 27, 2016 · by Michael Vaughan, Venmo GM

A while back, we realized that the magic of Venmo shouldn’t be limited just to payments with your friends. What if we could make that same Venmo experience possible when our users pay for things inside their favorite mobile apps? Today, we are taking our first step toward that new reality.

Now in limited release, select users can use Venmo to pay for event tickets on Gametime, and to have gourmet meals delivered on Munchery, with more merchants and additional functionality coming soon. But, this is just the beginning. From here, we want our users to be a part of this journey, and provide feedback about the experience. We appreciate everyone’s patience and support as we focus on building and delivering upon what our users love: the familiar delight and ease of paying with Venmo within their favorite merchant apps.

We’ve only made this feature available to select users, but don’t fret. We’ll continue to add new users regularly and will email you as soon as your number comes up. In the meantime, stay tuned for more information about our general public release.

If you’re a merchant with a mobile app and would like to learn more about accepting Venmo, check out our site or contact Braintree directly. If you’re already using Braintree’s v.zero SDK, contact your Account Manager to join the beta.

So, how does it work?

When selecting a payment method within a merchant’s app (iOS-only to start), simply tap the Venmo button. Your Venmo account will be instantly connected to the app and you will be all set to pay -- without the hassle of re-entering your payment information. The merchant’s app will authenticate with your Venmo app to make sure everything is in order. No sharing of payment details. Easy and secure.

After you make the purchase in the merchant’s app, we’ll keep track of everything for you in Venmo, under your personal purchase history, along with some familiar features.

Split 💸💰💳

Split the bill in just a few taps.

Sharing costs shouldn’t get in the way of sharing moments. Users will have the option to split the bill - whether it’s on the spot or at a later time. No need to rush. It’s always there in the Venmo app.

Personal Purchase History

Keep it together: your past purchases, all in one place.

Keeping track of all your purchases can get complicated. When you use Venmo to pay, all your transactions are stored in one place in your Venmo account. Now your purchase history is in your account - and it is visible only to you.

Share 🙋🎫🍕

Be in the know about things your friends love.

When you use Venmo to buy something inside a merchant’s app, you will be able to share your experience just like you do today with payments to your friends, except for one change: We made a point of putting this as a second step for purchases in merchant apps so that you always have control of what and how you share.

Keep Your Details Private

When you use Venmo to pay, the Venmo app creates a tokenized and encrypted identifier for the merchant. In other words, Venmo never shares your personal financial information with a merchant; instead, it sends a “token” to the merchant’s app. Your payment information always stays secure inside Venmo.

From within the Venmo app, you always will have complete visibility and control of your account and can disconnect your Venmo account from any app at any time.

Questions? Users can contact our Support Team via support@venmo.com, in-app chat or Twitter, and we will be happy to help.